Enlightenment “What has to be known, that I have known; What has to be abandoned, that I have abandoned; What has to be developed, that I have developed; Therefore, O brahmin, I am a Buddha.”

Ramana Maharishi o There was never a time when the Supreme Being was unknown or unrealised, because He is one and identical with the Self. His grace is the same as the conscious immediacy of His Divine Presence, in other words, Enlightenment or Revelation. One’s ignorance of this self-revealing immediacy of Divine Grace is no proof to the contrary. If the owl does not see the sun that illumines the whole world, is that the fault of the sun? Is it not due to the defectiveness of the bird’s sight? Similarly, if the ignorant man is unaware of the ever-luminous Atman or Self, can that be attributed to the nature of the Atman itself? Is it not the result of his own ignorance? The Supreme Lord is eternal grace. Therefore, there is really no such individual act as bestowing Grace; and, being ever present, the manifestation of Grace is not confined to any particular period or occasion. o There is no realisation to be achieved. The real is ever as it is. What we have done is, we have realised the unreal, i.e., taken for real the unreal. We have to give up that. That is all that is wanted. o “It is false to speak of Realisation. What is there to realise? The real is as it is, ever. How to realise it? All that is required is this. We have realised the unreal, i.e., regarded as real what is unreal. We have to give up this attitude. That is all that is required for us to attain jnana. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before. The illustration given in books is this. We dig a well and create a huge pit. The empty space (akasa) in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth which was filling the empty space (akasa) there. The empty space (akasa) was there then and is also there now. Similarly we have simply to throw out all the age-long memories, habits (samskaras) which are inside us, and when all of them have been given up, the Self will shine, alone.” o We know we exist. Nobody doubts he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. So, if one finds out about the truth or source of oneself, that is all that is required.” The Swami thereupon said, “Bhagavan therefore says ‘Know Thyself’.” Bhagavan said. “Even that is not correct. For, if we talk of knowing the Self, there must be two Selves, one a knowing Self, another, the Self which is known, and the process of knowing. The state we call realisation is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realised, he is that which alone is and which alone has always been. He cannot describe that state. He can only be that. Of course, we loosely talk of Self-realisation, for want of a better term. How to ‘real-ise’ or make real that which alone is real? What we are all doing is, we ‘realised’ or regard as real that which is unreal. This habit of ours has to be given up. All sadhana under all systems of thought is meant only for this end. When we give up regarding the unreal as real, then the reality alone will remain and we will be that.” o ‘I am’ is reality. I am this or that is unreal. o …..actually the Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realising it. Who is to realise what, and how, when all that exists is the Self and nothing but the Self?